Recipe advice please

[micmacmoc]

Having had a couple of failures as my first AG brews I thought I'd ask advice for my next attempt!
Heres the recipe, thanks to Graham Wheelers beer machine which is a cause of endless wasted hours here at work!

Nampara Best
25Lt
MOtter 4300
Crystal 385
ToryWheat 130

Progress 33g 90 mins
golding 10g 90
Fuggles 5g 90 mins

styrians 10g 35 mins
Progress 5g at the end
Now being new to this I should probably stick to a tried and tested Wheeler recipe but thought 'what the hell' ask the Jims people, they'll know if its crap. And I've got quite a collection of hops to play with...are the quantities of goldings and fuggles too small to be of significance? Is there enough wheat in it?
Should I just shut up and go to the book like I know I should?
Its all down to not being able to do a brew while I'm working a 7 day week for thetourist season here, but have thursday night spare if I can get the preparation done before then.
Thanks folks.

[OldSpeckledBadger]

I doubt that 5g Fuggles will be noticeable. And if it were my recipe, I'd keep the Styrians back until 10 minutes from the end.

[mysterio]

I have to ask, why have your previous AGs been a failure?

I would just follow a tried and tested recipe, the one you posted looks fine but at least if you F up your next batch you know that you're to blame and not the recipe. Four different hops seems pointless especially for a newbie, try and resist the temptation to throw in a bit of this and a bit of that until you know what flavours you're creating.

[Scooby]

My advice would be keep it simple. Choose something like Styrian Stunner or 100% Satisfaction but if you want to do your own the grain looks fine with enough TW imo, looks like it will be a fairly full bodied brew.

I don't think I have ever used 4 hops in a brew, I reckon one or two would give you a better idea of what they contribute. Plus you can concentrate on the brewing procedure rather than rather than thinking what to put in the boiler next.

All the hops you mention are aroma hops, you can use them for bittering and will produce a fine beer.

Fuggles and Golding are a classic combination, you could use equal amounts of both for bittering and Goldings only for aroma. Or Fuggles for bittering and Goldings for aroma, in fact any combination of two hops you mentioned or just one.

IMO 35min additions are a waste of hops. I find I get the best results bittering for 90min then throw in the some hops with 5-1mins to go, cool to 80c and throw in some more, anything from 25-100% of the amount you used for bittering, let them steep for 15-30mins and carry on cooling.

Good luck with whatever you choose, I hope it goes better then previous brews

[micmacmoc]

Thanks for your advice folks. My previous failures were due to poor yeast and/or lack of aeration so far as I can tell, I now have a paddle attached to a drill and some safale, with some notts on the way so I can compare. Some of my first brew did survive as I put 8 pints in a demijohn seperately, bottled them and now they taste just like Hoegarden! Considering it was a TTaylor recipe I'm baffled, quite drinkable though and much better than my kit brews.

I will follow you guys advice and keep it simple, hope its quiet at work, I've Grahams book, a beer engine and renewed enthusiasm!
Oh and a bottle of hens tooth from which I plan to try culturing some yeast, well its a good excuse to buy the stuff.

I have chosen Exmoor gold from Graham Wheelers book, theres a lot of positive postings on this forum for this....will attempt to do some pics and a brewday posting, much better prepared thanks to you all and now having Grahams book, thanks to all.





ps
WOW!
Just had a delivery from the postman, the homebrew centre in grimsby, theres a free sampole of 25g Beata hops, unexpected pressie with my yeasts etc, well done them!

[Scooby]

That looks a good one to do, good luck